Chapter 20 - Part I

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MANNIE ROSE AND MADE COFFEE in the foolish little hotel coffee-maker still stocked with one decaf and one regular packet. Two cups later he had a driving plan from San Angelo to Roswell and then on to Albuquerque. He better find some chains. Rubi was pretty sure-footed under most conditions, but there was no more Triple-A. Might want to get an extra spare tire. He started a shopping list for Albuquerque: spare, clothes, chains, an extra sleeping bag... "What else?" What did Jess need? At least she didn't seem like a girly girl with two suitcases for an overnight.

A knock at the door. "Yeah?"

"Mannie? It's Jess."

He opened the door. She stood there, dressed to travel, a plaid shirt over a white blouse, and jeans tucked into her cowboy boots. She picked up the duffel bag on the floor next to her and walked in.

"Figured we could eat with the folks at the high school." She sat in the chair, then hopped back up. "We can go from there. I want to thank them."

"Sounds good." He glanced down at his bare feet, Gotta get myself moving. "Was going to snag a shower. Not sure when we'll have another opportunity and who knows about hot water and electricity."

"Already did. I'm gonna head over. See if there's anything I can do before breakfast."

His knee ached, but no worse than usual. His hand continued to throb. In fact, his whole body ached, but that wasn't really too surprising, considering the vaccine. Mannie drained the last drips of coffee, cobwebs wrapped around his brain. Hopefully they had more coffee at breakfast.

He blasted the hot water, though the pressure was pretty mediocre. It didn't matter; it washed away the sleep and eased the soreness of an abused body.

After the shower, he dressed in his uniform. It gave him a bit of comfort.

He found Jess with two trays of hot food: corn beef hash, scrambled eggs and giant glass of milk.

"You want coffee? Didn't know how you liked it."

"Black with sugar."

She disappeared and then reappeared with a large cup of steaming coffee and napkin with half a dozen sugar cubes.

The food was good, but bland; he wanted more spice. He glanced around for some tabasco for the hash and eggs, but settled for salt and pepper.

Jess had wolfed down all of hers by the time Mannie finished half of his. The coffee reminded him of the his army mess halls, burnt tasting and strong.

They finished their food and Jess said her goodbyes. Tom the Baker gave her a basket of muffins and wished her luck.

Mannie could see she had made connections. He wasn't sure she noticed how Tom's eyes teared up when he said goodbye.

Out on the road the miles flew by. After all these years he still missed real trees. Well, there'd be some near Salt Lake. For a while they rode in silence. Jess seemed pensive.

In Lamesa he stopped to fill up the tank and walk his knee around.

Jess got out and surveyed the town. Her face registered disappointment.

More of the same; dry, flat. Jess stretched her arms over her head, and he caught a flash of a pink jewel belly button piercing. He focused on the gas pump.

Her arms came down. "The trip from Washington was really the only traveling I've ever done. I bet you did a lot of travelling with the army."

"Some." Mannie shook the last drops of gas from the nozzle. He went inside the convenience store to scrounge for snacks, and Jess followed.

"Oh, sorry. They probably aren't really great memories, huh?" she said, took off her hat to run her fingers through her hair.

"Some good, some bad."

"The idea of traveling always felt exciting and fun—like an adventure. My dad's big adventure was going to Washington. He said we moved back because of 'bad influences' on me, but the economy had gotten rough, and Bellingham was expensive. Moving back to Texas was him giving up. He got crabby anytime I mentioned seeing the world." She talked like she was trying to make up for the last few hours of silence.

Mannie didn't mind. It didn't matter what she said; Jess had an energy, a positive spirit, that radiated from her. Listening to her was like lying in the warm sun on a cold day. He was surprised to find that he was enjoying having her along on the trip. He'd imagined that she would be childish and annoying—that the mission to collect her and bring her to Lizzie would be like babysitting.

They stopped for lunch at a Stripes convenience store in Brownfield: frozen, microwaved burritos. Not really food, but it did silence the rumbling in his stomach. They found a picnic bench nearby and sat down to eat.

"Next stop, Roswell." Mannie chuckled. "Home of the Aliens."

"Really?" Jess bit off half her burrito. The girl could eat. Her eyes lit up. Covering her mouth, she asked between chews, "Can we go to the UFO museum?"

He laughed. "I guess we need to stop somewhere."

They washed the burrito off their hands in a water fountain and then returned to the road.

As they got close to Roswell the sky grew darker. Mannie didn't feel good about the color. It didn't look like yesterday's thunderclouds.

"Is that smoke?" Jess asked, reading his mind.

"Shit. Wildfire."

"Is that where we're heading?" Her voice quavered.

"Yeah." Mannie tapped the GPS on. "We can probably get around it."

"Probably?" Jess eyes were big and round, she chewed her thumbnail. 

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